Make Full Use of 4GB RAM or More on 32-bit Windows

With cheaper and cheaper RAM,
more and more people would like to install 4G or more RAM for their
desktops or laptops, trying to obtain higher computer performance.
However because of the limitations of 32-bit IBM PC architecture, to access
full 4G physical memory or more, the CPU processor must support
Physical Address Extension (PAE), as well as the North-bridge
Chip must have the Memory Remapping feature.

Even the hardware has enabled these features, the operating system may still
constrain the full use of the large memory. The following
table lists the maximum memory supported by different Windows
versions from Microsoft.

Operating system (32-bit)

Maximum memory support with PAE

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

8 GB of physical RAM

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

32 GB of physical RAM

Windows XP (all versions)

4 GB of physical RAM*

Windows Server 2003 (and SP1), Standard Edition

4 GB of physical RAM*

Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

32 GB of physical RAM

Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

64 GB of physical RAM

Windows Server 2003 SP1, Enterprise Edition

64 GB of physical RAM

Windows Server 2003 SP1, Datacenter Edition

128 GB of physical RAM

* Total physical address space is limited to 4 GB on these versions of Windows.

VSuite Ramdisk provides a feature called OS Invisible Memory Support which can help
you reclaim the lost memory.

The following demonstration shows how to enable and use OS Invisible
Memory. The computer used in this example has 8GB RAM installed and the
OS is 32-bit Windows XP. Use Windows Task Manager to take a look on the
information of the physical memory. The total memory visible to OS is
3582MB and the available memory is 2975MB.

Step 1. Tick the Enable OS Invisible Physical Memory
checkbox at the Options Tab
to enable the feature. After you tick, it will show
the total amount of the Invisible Memory (IM). In this example, the
amount of the Invisible Memory is 4604MB.

If your computer or OS doesn't support PAE, this checkbox
is automatically disabled and looks grey.

Step 2. Tick the Use OS Invisible Memory checkbox at
the Ramdisk Tab. Right next to the checkbox it
shows current available and total Invisible Memory. The
requested ramdisk size can be bigger or smaller than the available Invisible Memory. In this example,
we use full amount of the Invisible Memory.

Step 3. Set other properties and then press the Add
button to create a new ramdisk. (see how
to add a ramdisk)

Now a new disk which utilizes the Invisible
Memory is created. Let's check the available physical memory
again. It is 2963MB, almost same as before the creation of the ramdisk,
which means the ramdisk doesn't encroach the visible
memory. Yes, via this method, we collect the physical memory
that is invisible to OS.

You may disable or enable to use the Invisible Memory
after the ramdisk is created. Enter the Property Mode, it
shows the amount of the Invisible Memory that used by the
ramdisk. Untick the Use OS Invisible Memory checkbox if you
don't want to use the Invisible Memory and then press the Modify
button. After the computer reboot, the ramdisk uses the visible memory
instead of the Invisible Memory.

IMPORTANCE

1. Check if your
hardware supports Invisible
Memory feature at first. Normally for Intel chipset, it requires 946
chipset family or above. Intel 945 chipset family and below are not
supported. For NVIDIA chipset, it requires nForce 570/590 or above.

2. Make sure that your
Windows OS enables PAE feature, otherwise you will get an error message
like that "Your computer does not support PAE feature." when you tick
"Enable OS Invisible Physical Memory" in the "Options" tab. To enable PAE feature, see How to enable OS PAE feature .

3. Do not
simultaneously use the similar software which also manage the
Invisible Memory. This may cause the conflicts. You may solve this
issue with IM
Reservation feature.

4. If you want to enable OS hibernation function, do not set
system page file (pagefile.sys) to the ramdisk which
uses Invisible Memory. Otherwise BSOD may occur. However you
can set it to the ramdisk using OS visible memory. Also you need to enable IM Hibernation
feature.

5. In case you can't
boot up the system normally after you enable the
Invisible Memory Support. You can restore the settings
by booting into OS Safe Mode.